Iran urges more children

October 24, 2006|By FROM NEWS SERVICES

Iran's president is urging couples to have more children to boost the country's population, state media said. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said his administration would reduce the working hours of women to allow them to have more children. Ahmadinejad said the West fears a high Iranian birthrate because countries believe Iran "would eventually dominate them."

Iran has a population of about 70 million, more than double its neighbor to the west, Iraq. Both countries are majority Shiite Muslim. There is no evidence so far that the new policy for women has been enacted.